Shorter Runs

Tempt (tempt-ing.com) is a division of HGI Graphic Arts, a print provider traditionally serving the publication, catalog, book, and commercial markets. “Our executive vice president of sales and I had the idea of building some kind of business around a digital solution,” recounts Tempt president Michael Draver. “We acquired the assets of All-American Graphics back in late 2008 with the idea of being more active in digital, in-store, P-O-P-type products.” The Tempt division, in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, now has about 27 employees.

The company’s primary market is in retail—“signage programs, promotional graphics, things like that,” says Draver. “Our retail and brand marketing clients kept telling us they wanted to do more segmented, shorter runs. In 2009 we installed the Inca Onset S70 in order to better provide that service.”

At the same time, the company acquired a Kongsberg [MODEL?] cutting table with the i-cut sensing system. “It offered good features, flexibility with different materials, different cutting heads and blades, things of that nature,” says Draver. The company cuts a wide range of materials, including paperboard, foamcore, corrugated, and various plastics, according to Draver. One feature he especially appreciates is the extension table they purchased for the cutter.

“In effect, we have a double-wide table,” he explains. “I can have two 60- x120-inch sheets on the machine at the same time. With most setups, after you’re done cutting, you have to stop and scrap those pieces out. But ours is twice as long, with a belt. After I’m done cutting, the machine moves the first sheet out of the way and moves another one into position to cut, so I can keep cutting while I’m scrapping. It has a sheet feeder on it as well. It was a custom solution put together on the basis of the print solution we were buying.”